ArticlePLoS pathogens2015
Adhesive fiber stratification in uropathogenic Escherichia coli biofilms unveils oxygen-mediated control of type 1 pili.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed, 84 citations in OpenAlex.
- A cold-responsiveApplied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Towards enhanced translational value: preclinical drug activity testing against actively multiplying, nutrient-starved and pellicle biofilm-embedded Mycobacterium abscessus.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2026Article
- UropathogenicInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Metabolic insights from mass spectrometry imaging of biofilms: A perspective from model microorganisms.Methods (San Diego, Calif.) · 2024Review
- A convergent evolutionary pathway attenuating cellulose production drives enhanced virulence of some bacteria.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Population characteristics of pathogenicFrontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Spatially localised expression of the glutamate decarboxylase gadB in Escherichia coli O157:H7 microcolonies in hydrogel matrices.NPJ science of food · 2023Article
- Sampling the rainbow.Nature chemical biology · 2023Article
- Multichannel Microfluidic Platform for Temporal-Spatial Investigation of Niche Roles of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli within a Dual-Species Biofilm.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2023Article
- In Vivo Role of Two-Component Regulatory Systems in Models of Urinary Tract Infections.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- How to study biofilms: technological advancements in clinical biofilm research.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2023Review
- Bacterial biofilms in the human body: prevalence and impacts on health and disease.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2023Review
- A tRNA modifying enzyme as a tunable regulatory nexus for bacterial stress responses and virulence.Nucleic acids research · 2022Article
- Proteomes of UropathogenicProteomes · 2022Article
- Current research and future directions in non-malignant urologic research - proceedings of the annual CAIRIBU meeting.American journal of clinical and experimental urology · 2022Article
- "Omics" Technologies - What Have They Told Us About UropathogenicFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Review
- Article
- Improving Phage-Biofilm In Vitro Experimentation.Viruses · 2021Article
- Gastrointestinal biofilms in health and disease.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2021Review
- Cytochrome bd promotes Escherichia coli biofilm antibiotic tolerance by regulating accumulation of noxious chemicals.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Bacterial biofilms account for a significant number of hospital-acquired infections and complicate treatment options, because bacteria within biofilms are generally more tolerant to antibiotic treatment. This resilience is attributed to transient bacterial subpopulations that arise in response to variations in the microenvironment surrounding the biofilm. Here, we probed the spatial proteome of surface-associated single-species biofilms formed by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), the major causative agent of community-acquired and catheter-associated urinary tract infections. We used matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight (TOF) imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) to analyze the spatial proteome of intact biofilms in situ. MALDI-TOF IMS revealed protein species exhibiting distinct localizations within surface-associated UPEC biofilms, including two adhesive fibers critical for UPEC biofilm formation and virulence: type 1 pili (Fim) localized exclusively to the air-exposed region, while curli amyloid fibers localized to the air-liquid interface. Comparison of cells grown aerobically, fermentatively, or utilizing an alternative terminal electron acceptor showed that the phase-variable fim promoter switched to the "OFF" orientation under oxygen-deplete conditions, leading to marked reduction of type 1 pili on the bacterial cell surface. Conversely, S pili whose expression is inversely related to fim expression were up-regulated under anoxic conditions. Tethering the fim promoter in the "ON" orientation in anaerobically grown cells only restored type 1 pili production in the presence of an alternative terminal electron acceptor beyond oxygen. Together these data support the presence of at least two regulatory mechanisms controlling fim expression in response to oxygen availability and may contribute to the stratification of extracellular matrix components within the biofilm. MALDI IMS facilitated the discovery of these mechanisms, and we have demonstrated that this technology can be used to interrogate subpopulations within bacterial biofilms.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.